Adopting Healthful Plant-Based Diet Linked to Lower Risk for Alzheimer Disease, Dementia

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By Elana Gotkine HealthDay Reporter

Medically reviewed by Drugs.com

via HealthDay

THURSDAY, April 9, 2026 -- Adopting a healthful plant-based diet is associated with a reduced risk for Alzheimer disease and related dementias (ADRD), according to a study published online April 8 in Neurology.

Song-Yi Park, Ph.D., from the University of Hawaii Cancer Center in Honolulu, and colleagues conducted a prospective longitudinal analysis of the Multiethnic Cohort Study for adults who completed food frequency questionnaires at baseline (aged 45 to 75 years in 1993 to 1996) and at 10-year follow-up (2003 to 2008) to examine plant-based dietary patterns and their change over time in relation to ADRDs.

The analyses included 92,849 participants for the baseline diet and 45,065 participants for the 10-year dietary change; of these, 21,478 and 8,360, respectively, had ADRDs. The researchers found that for the baseline diet, the highest versus lowest quintiles of overall plant-based diet index (PDI) and healthful plant-based diet index (hPDI) were associated with reduced risks for ADRD (hazard ratios, 0.88 and 0.93, respectively), while the unhealthful plant-based diet index (uPDI) was associated with a higher risk (hazard ratio, 1.06). For dietary change over time, uPDI had the strongest association with ADRD, rather than PDI or hPDI. Participants with a large increase in uPDI had a higher risk, while those with a large decrease in uPDI had a lower risk compared with those with a stable score (hazard ratios, 1.25 and 0.89, respectively).

"Our findings highlight that it is important not only to follow a plant-based diet, but also to ensure that the diet is of high quality," Park said in a statement.

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Disclaimer: Statistical data in medical articles provide general trends and do not pertain to individuals. Individual factors can vary greatly. Always seek personalized medical advice for individual healthcare decisions.

Source: HealthDay

Posted : 2026-04-10 01:59

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